1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to purification of active component of propolis, and more particularly to a method of massively making, separating, and purifying artepillin C in propolis.
2. Description of Related Art
Propolis has been used in traditional medicines for thousands of years. It has various physiological activities, such as anti-cancer activity, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, and antibacterial activity. Propolis has many compounds of biological activities, such as cinnamic acid derivative, flavonoid, ester, aromatic aldehyde, ethanol, terpenoid compound, and artepillin C, and flavonoid derivative, aromatic carboxylic acid derivative, and phenols derivative are used in antibacterial and antioxidant treatments.
European Patent, EP0976399B1, teaches a conventional method of extracting and purifying flavonoids and artepillin C from propolis. In this method, an organic solvent is used to remove wax in the propolis. But, the bad result is that flavonoids and artepillin C are damaged by the solvent, and there will be residual problem.
Another European Patent, WO2005094853A1, uses triglyceride or fatty acid as a solvent to remove artepillin C from propolis. Chinese Patent, CN1879656A, uses a surfactant, cyclodextrins for example, to increase water solubility of the functional components of propolis. Another Chinese Patent, CN1108057A, provides water-soluble propolis, which is made by soaking propolis in glycerol, and then heating, stirring, and filtering it. Such water soluble propolis has wax, and the wax greatly reduces the purity of flavonoids and artepillin C.
Chinese Patent, CN101244086B, discloses a method of extracting propolis by supercritical carbon dioxide, wherein a ratio by weight of fine riversands and propolis is 5.3:1, an extracting temperature is 55° C., and a pressure is 30 MPa. Chinese Patent, CN101099547B, provides a method of extracting water-soluble propolis extracts from propolis. These two patents are unable to extract the entire flavonoid and artepillin C from propolis.
In conclusion, the known conventional propolis extracting and purifying methods usually have some drawbacks, including complexity, taking a long time, poor purity, and residual organic solvent problem. Sometime, organic solvent is reacted with functional components that damages the functional components, and the residual organic solvent is another serious problem. They have to be improved.